Exile Is My Trade: A Habib Tengour Reader

Habib Tengour, writer and sociologist, born in Mostaganem (Algeria) in 1947, lives and works between Constantine and Paris, where he teaches at the Université d’Evry Val d’Essonne. His work draws upon many sources in Algerian culture, including history, mythology, religion, popular culture, traditional music, and the experience of exile. He writes in French.

Praise for Habib Tengour’s Work:

Tengour is the first Algerian to write from the position of a second generation immigrant. That the tone of his works is different from the one we are used to, should therefore not come as a surprise.Jacqueline ARNAUD

Though mixing philosophical or political reflection with historical connotations, Habib Tengour’s text is before all poetic. It is verbal ritual that hesitates between poetry and prose, intertwining or juxtaposing both to create a kind of polyphonic récit.Tahar DJAOUT

A poet with wide literary, cultural, and historical reference. A skillful technician who writes with flair and outlandishness, in the surrealist vein.Hédi ABDELJAOUAD

[Reading Tengour] fills one lungs with the jubilation of a writing that marries the lavishness of colors and eras,
the richness of both a high and a popular literary heritage, with the most contemporary accents.Cécile OUMHANI

Tengour’s characters are blade runners, as whirling as they are multiple, always between Here and There, Tradition and Modernity, Dreamworld and Day world, Orient and Occidental, the We and the I. Between worlds that Tengour tries through writing to fuse — and to explore.Regina KEIL-SAGAWE